Fundamentals of Room Acoustics

Is it really possible to calculate acoustics ? How does the acoustics of a room affect the sound of the loudspeakers ? Speaker: Volker Lwer, IFBconsulting

Fundamentals of Room Acoustics; PLS mediasystems 2006

Basic principles of sound propagation

Direct sound, inverse square law Signal/Noise Room acoustics Direct sound and reverberation Total sound field

Fundamentals of Room Acoustics; PLS mediasystems 2006

Preliminary remarks
Processes of nature Subjective feeling Representative models

Process Input

Input

Result Operation Input Input Input Input

Perception

Input

Fundamentals of Room Acoustics; PLS mediasystems 2006

Models, algorithms

Room parameters

Simplify the processes of the natural world Understand and recognise interrelations Calculate result parameters

Event parameters

Algorithms, calculation

Result parameters

Perception ? Hearing ?! Interpretation !

Source parameters

Fundamentals of Room Acoustics; PLS mediasystems 2006

What is sound ?

Sound pressure, p Sound velocity, v Sound propagagtion velocity, c

Fundamentals of Room Acoustics; PLS mediasystems 2006

Distance law

Impulse-sound source, omni-directional ...

t = 0 ms

Fundamentals of Room Acoustics; PLS mediasystems 2006

Distance law

Ld = 0 dB R = 1m

Ld = -6dB R = 2m

Ld=-12dB R=4m
Fundamentals of Room Acoustics; PLS mediasystems 2006

Freefield

Fundamentals of Room Acoustics; PLS mediasystems 2006

Signal / Noise

S/N S/N

90 90 80 80 70 70 60 60 50 50 40 40 30 30 20 20 0,25 0,25 0,5 0,5 1 1 2 2 4 4 Distance Distance 8 8 16 16 32 32 64 64

SPL SPL

S S N N

Fundamentals of Room Acoustics; PLS mediasystems 2006

Signal / Noise

S/N S/N

90 90 80 80 70 70 60 60 50 50 40 40 30 30 20 20 0,25 0,25 0,5 0,5 1 1 2 2 4 4 Distance Distance 8 8 16 16 32 32 64 64 S S N N

SPL SPL

Fundamentals of Room Acoustics; PLS mediasystems 2006

The room

Fundamentals of Room Acoustics; PLS mediasystems 2006

Direct sound Ld

Fundamentals of Room Acoustics; PLS mediasystems 2006

Reflections

Fundamentals of Room Acoustics; PLS mediasystems 2006

Absorption, Reflection,Transmission

Fundamentals of Room Acoustics; PLS mediasystems 2006

Diffuse field or reverberation field, Lr

Fundamentals of Room Acoustics; PLS mediasystems 2006

Reverberation time RT60 (W.C. Sabine) (SI metric!)

V RT60= 0.163

Volume V

S = surface
S3a3

Siai

(equivalent absorption surface)

S1a1 S2a2 S4a4 S6a6 S5a5

S1a1 + ... Siai = Siai)

= absorption coefficient
Fundamentals of Room Acoustics; PLS mediasystems 2006

Sabine, Eyring and Fitzroy approach

Fundamentals of Room Acoustics; PLS mediasystems 2006

Energy vs. time, reflectogram, reverberation

Fundamentals of Room Acoustics; PLS mediasystems 2006

Direct sound and reverberation, Ld & Lr

Hopkins-Stryker Hopkins-Stryker D/R D/R

90 90 80 80 70 70 60 60 50 50 40 40 30 30 20 20 0,25 0,25 0,5 0,5 1 1 2 2 4 4

Distance Distance

SPL SPL

Ld Ld Lr Lr

8 8

16 16

32 32

64 64

Fundamentals of Room Acoustics; PLS mediasystems 2006

Total sound field Lt = Ld + Lr

Hopkins-Stryker Hopkins-Stryker D/R D/R

90 90 80 80 70 70 60 60 50 50 40 40 30 30 20 20 0,25 0,25 0,5 0,5 1 1 2 2 4 4

Distance Distance

Ld Ld Lr Lr Lt Lt

SPL SPL

8 8

16 16

32 32

64 64

Fundamentals of Room Acoustics; PLS mediasystems 2006

Hopkins Stryker Equation

dB SPL

LT LR LD

Entfernung distance
L D = 10 L R = 10 log log Q 4 r2 4 S
Fundamentals of Room Acoustics; PLS mediasystems 2006

L T = 10

log

Q 4 r2

4 S

Directivity Q & DI

Q= 1 DI= 0 dB

Q= 2 DI= 3 dB

Q= 4 DI= 6dB

DI = 10 log Q
Fundamentals of Room Acoustics; PLS mediasystems 2006

Total sound field Lt = Ld + Lr , Q= 8, DI= 9 dB

Hopkins-Stryker D/R

100 80
SPL

60 40 20 0 1 1 2 4 8 16 32 64
Distance

S Lr Lt

Fundamentals of Room Acoustics; PLS mediasystems 2006

Discussion

Any question is welcome ...

Fundamentals of Room Acoustics; PLS mediasystems 2006

Fundamentals of Room Acoustics

Thank you for your attention!

Fundamentals of Room Acoustics; PLS mediasystems 2006